May is the month of Mother’s Day.  

May is also the month of Mary, when we traditionally turn to the Mother of God with added devotion asking her to pray for us in a special way to her son, Jesus. For who can deny the pleas of a mother?

Which brings us to Harry Potter….

            Ok, I admit it. I’ve read all the Harry Potter books and have seen all the movies. [And I’m quite excited about the new Harry Potter tv series (ok, still in production but coming out in a year or two!)]. I wanted to know what our young people are reading and Harry Potter’s hot! And you know what? I’m not only enjoying the read but have found many Christian parallels.

            Take Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, for example.

            The evil Lord Voldemort has killed Harry’s parents and tried to kill Harry too, but was unsuccessful, leaving only the telltale scar of a lightning bolt on the young boy’s forehead. By the end of the book, when Harry defeats Voldemort for the first time, he inquires of Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwart’s School of Wizardry, “Well … Voldemort said that he only killed my mother because she tried to stop him killing me. But why would he want to kill me in the first place?”

            Dumbledore replies, “Alas, the first thing you ask me, I cannot tell you. Not today. Not now. You will know, one day …. When you are older….”

            “But why couldn’t Quirrell touch me?,” asks Harry.

            “Your mother died to save you.  If there is one thing Voldemort cannot understand, it is love. He didn’t realize that love as powerful as your mother’s love for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign … to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection forever.  It is in your very skin. Quirrell, full of hatred, greed and ambition, sharing his soul with Voldemort, could not touch you for this reason.  It was agony to touch a person marked by something so good.”

            Friends, we all have been marked by the powerful love of a mother. Mary. Jesus’ mother. The mother of God. Her love for us knows no limits, and she constantly intercedes on our behalf before her son, Jesus.

            During this month of May, let us ask Mary to pray to Jesus in a special way for our students, parents, teachers, staff and volunteers that they may be marked and protected with the power of love, the love of God.

            Most holy Lady, Mother of God, light of my darkened soul, my hope, my protection, my refuge, my comfort and my joy, intercede with Jesus for the salvation of our souls.

            And may God bless all our earthly mothers, grandmothers, godmothers, and those who cared for us and loved us when we were young.

Bishop David Motiuk

Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Edmonton